


Sweeney Todd 2: The Barber's Apprentice

by PartyhardDrunkard



Category: Sweeney Todd (2007)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, After the Movie, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, F/M, Ghosts and a Human Murder Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-14
Updated: 2011-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 07:23:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1419508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PartyhardDrunkard/pseuds/PartyhardDrunkard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place in 2010 London.  A North Carolina family recently moved to London, and the daughter Victoria, runs into trouble with the demon barber!  Rated M for language and violence (and maybe an inappropriate scene here and there).<br/>ABANDONED.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Get To You

**Get To You**

* * *

 

Music echoed from a small, but elegant Ballet Studio in downtown London, seven girls were dancing in the studio.  One was better than the others.  Her name was Victoria Shepherd, a tall and lean fourteen year old girl, who had just recently moved to London from a small town in North Carolina.

"Very good, Victoria.  That's perfect.  Girls! Watch her port de bra, it's beautiful!" Exclaimed the normally prim and proper teacher, who was now practically jumping with enthusiasm.  Victoria smiled angelically and repeated her graceful port de bra.  The rest of the girls clapped their hands, and fawned over how lovely she was, all except one.  Marjorie Davidson.  She rolled her eyes and strutted over to Victoria.

"Okay, this is a onetime offer.  I will allow you to join our little…club, if you go to 186 Fleet Street and check out the building." She sneered.  She knew exactly what was up there.  She'd heard the stories; she'd seen the apparitions herself.  Victoria however had no clue.  She'd seen the movie, yes, it's her favorite.  But, she didn't know the address of all these happenings.  She didn't even know if it was all real.

"Yeah, of course." She answered, crossing her arms, thinking _something's up with this chick_. "But, what do you mean by 'check it out?'" She asked, coolly air quoting 'check it out.'

"I mean go inside.  It's supposed to be really…cool." Marjorie lied.  She only wanted this Victoria out of her life, so she could have the limelight.

"I'm sure I can fit it in before choir." Victoria mumbled, looking at Marjorie suspiciously.

"Okay!  Thank you for coming girls, see you next class." Boomed the dance instructor, shooing everyone out of the dance studio.  Marjorie smiled and walked away, leaving Victoria alone in the hallway.  She sighed and took her hair out of the bun, letting her golden brown locks poof around her shoulders.  Her brown eyes scanned the area; she felt as though she was being watched, as she took off her Pointe shoes and slipped on a light blue sweater.  She suddenly got very cold, seeing as this scared her she quickly grabbed her dance bag and coat, and then she ran out and away of the premises.  She rubbed her shoulders where she was cold, and found a white mark in the shape of a finger on her neck.

"Oh my God!" She whispered, feeling the strange need to be quiet. "What's in there?" She asked herself, looking back at the studio.  Little did she know, it was the Great Judge Turpin's home, she would have noticed if she wasn't so freaked out.  She pulled out her cell phone and called her mom.

"Mom?" She whispered into the speaker.

"Yeah, sweetie?  Are you alright?  You sound scared." Her mother, Gloria Shepherd questioned.  _God!  She's so paranoid!_   Victoria thought, even though she was feeling a bit paranoid herself.

"Can you pick me up at 186 Fleet Street today?" She asked, hoping she would say yes.

"Yes.  Why?" Gloria asked, drawing out the words.

"'Cuz." She moaned, not wanting to tell her.

"Tell me." Gloria commanded.  _Oh, boy!  Just looks like I'll have to tell her._ Victoria thought unwillingly.

"Marjorie said I had to if I wanted to join her 'club.'" She slurred her words on purpose, so as to confuse her mom.  It didn't work.

"Oh, honey, I know you want to, but do you really think that's a good idea?  Do you even know where this place is?"

"Mom!  Sweeney Todd is my favorite movie!  I know where Fleet Street is!" Victoria exploded back at Gloria.

"Hey!  If you start acting like that, then-" Click.

"Good bye, Gloria." Victoria said, after she closed the phone.  She looked at the address of the building she was in front of and saw in ancient writing.

_186 Fleet Street._

"Well, hello!  How did I get here so fast?" She wondered out loud.  Victoria decided to go around the perimeter first.  When she was at the right side of the building she saw a huge slanted window covered with a brown substance.  She had no clue what she was looking at, and then it sunk in.  It was blood!  This was Sweeney Todd's barbershop and Mrs. Lovett's meat pie emporium!

"OMG!" She screeched at the top of her lungs, as she ran to the other side of the building.  She saw the stairs, the aged barber sign and squealed.  But, as she started to ascend the stairs, a great feeling of foreboding crept up her spine, also bringing nervousness.  Did she really want to possibly encounter the most evil demon barber of all time and get her life ended in a mili second?  She slowed her step, but her feet still brought her to that godforsaken door.  She stared at the doorknob for a few seconds, and then she took a deep breath and opened the door.

As soon as she opened the door a cold breeze rushed out of the barbershop, and a weird mist enveloped her, causing her to cough.  She took one step into the shop and looked around for a second, when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, her head snapped in its direction.  What she saw made her scream.

Sweeney Todd.  Right there, razor in hand.  Victoria let out a scream that could have woken the whole of the dead, and ran towards the door.  She started to descend the stairs at a very fast rate, but still found something grabbing the tops of her arms.  She saw her mom and dad, Chris, in their red Mustang and screamed.

"Mom!  Help me please!" But, Sweeney's hand over her mouth muffled her cry.  He dragged her into the old barbershop and the door slammed itself.  He let go of her and she ran screaming towards the door.  The mist appeared again and she groped the wall, trying to find the door.  She saw it and a tear slid down her cheek, she was happy she could get out of this place.  But, as she reached for the handle it disappeared.

"No!  No, no, no!" She yelped, banging on the wall.  She turned around, and Sweeney was there.  She ran across the room to behind the barber chair.  She had forgotten about the trap door.

Sweeney smirked and stamped on the lever.  Victoria fell through the hole in the floor, but grabbed onto the edge of the available surface.  She whimpered when she started to slip and tried to pull herself back up, but Sweeney only got his razor and ran it across her fingers.  Victoria screamed as her blood spurted upwards, she let go of the edge and fell into the depths of the bake house, landing on her shoulder with a sickening crack.  She screamed in pain and looked up when a light formed itself within the old, useless furnace.  Then a body appeared there.

Mrs. Lovett.

"Get out!" She shouted, sounding more demonic than human, pointing a ghostly hand towards the door out.  Victoria cried and nodded as she ran up the stairs, and got lost in the pie shop, running around the same corner twice.  She finally found the door and struggled to get it open.  She almost tore it off its hinges before she got it open.  But, when she did she ran down the street at such a rate that the fastest sprinter would have had trouble catching her.

She slowed and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.  Then she collapsed into the street, falling into darkness.

* * *

"Hello?  Victoria, can you hear me?" Chris Shepherd asked his unconscious daughter.  She moaned and opened her eyes.

"What happened?  Where is he?" She asked in a frantic tone, scuttling into the head board.  She hit her head and gasped her hand flying to her head.  She saw the bandages across her fingers and realized the whole thing was real.

"Where is who?" Chris asked, putting a hand on her undamaged shoulder.

"Sweeney!  Didn't you guys see him?  He grabbed me and forced me into his barbershop!  And he slit my fingers!" She blabbered, holding her hands up.  Then, Gloria appeared behind Chris.

"Honey, the doctor thinks the cuts are self inflicted." She said sadly, thinking her daughter needed to go to a loony bin.

"Self inflicted?  Why would I do this to myself?" Victoria yelled, throwing her hands in the air.  She hissed when the pain in her right shoulder became worse.

"I don't know.  Why would you?" Gloria answered coolly.  _What's wrong with my mother?  Something's wrong with her._ Victoria thought, glaring at Gloria through heavy eyelids.

"What's up with you?" Victoria mumbled her eyes narrowing.

"Don't be smart with me young lady!  I could take your entire dance, choir, everything away!  I think I might from what you've done!" Gloria yelled right back at her.  Victoria wanted to spit on her mother when she said this.

"I swear to God, mom!  If you do that, so help me what I will do to you." Victoria snarled, sounding as demonic as Mrs. Lovett had.  Gloria looked slightly taken aback when Victoria said this.

"Victoria." Chris barked. "You will not do anything to harm your mother." But, the unheard question was _Will you?_

"Oh, yes, I would, Chris.  You don't know what I can do." Victoria growled.

"That's it!  No more choir!  No more dance!  No more anything!" Chris yelled.  Victoria screamed wordlessly in anger and started writhing around in the hospital bed, her heart rate accelerating.  She tried to take the needles and pins out of her arms, but failed epically.  Nurses and a doctor spilled into the room, trying, unsuccessfully to hold Victoria down.

"Miss Shepherd, you need to calm down!" The doctor exclaimed, trying to give her some sort of medicine, but Victoria kept her mouth shut and was moving so much that it was hard for them to even put the restraints on her.

They settled on just stabbing a needle with a sedative inside her.  When they did this, Victoria immediately felt drowsy, but still insisted on writhing and screaming.  She eventually gave up on that, but every time someone came near her she snarled and hissed.

The last thing she heard before the sedative won was, "Book a bus to Bedlam."

* * *

When Victoria awoke, she was in a dark, dank place.  There were sounds of women crying from all around, and there was screaming coming from a distant corridor.

"Where am I?" She asked herself.  She couldn't see a thing, it was very dark.  She heard a soft voice from somewhere next to her.

_Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around._

It sang, and Victoria immediately knew the voice.

"Toby?" She asked in disbelief, creeping closer to where the voice was.  She had this weird feeling that she wasn't alone, but it wasn't a bad feeling.

"Yes, ma'am." The boy answered, "They got to you, didn't they?  Like they got to me.  They make you insane, they do." He said, and Victoria felt tears pricking at her eyes.

"I wouldn't say they got to me, because I've only been there once." She answered, feeling cold, near her hand.  Toby must have been holding it, or trying to.

"They're horrible people, they are.  Demons in life and in death." Toby sneered.  He hated them now.  He always would, no matter how bad Mrs. Lovett wanted him to love her, like he used to.

"Can you leave here?" Victoria asked, wanting to get out of the topic of Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett.

"I can leave this cell, yes, but I can't leave the building." He answered, sadly.  He wanted so badly to leave this place.  He wanted to be free.  Victoria's hopes leapt high.

"Could you find me some keys?" She asked, hoping he would be kind enough to.  Toby nodded, but she couldn't see him.

"Yes mum." He answered in the most angelic tone, "You remind me of Mrs. Lovett before she was the devil's wife."

"Aw!  Thank you.  She was a very kind soul before that happened." Victoria cried, talking like she was from a different time.

Toby got up and left through the door without as much as a creak of the old floorboards.  When, he was gone Victoria was trying to wriggle out of the Strait jacket she was in, but to no avail.  She tried standing a few times, but whenever she got halfway up the wall, she would collapse out of exhaustion.

When Toby returned, he helped her out of the jacket and unlocked the door for her.  The door swung open and light filled the room, Victoria could finally see his face.  It was just as it had been in the movie.  Messy brown hair, pale blue eyes, only he was slightly taller.

"The way out is down that hallway, and down the stairs after that.  Do be careful not to get caught, or else you would get thrown back in here and they would find me.  No one knows I'm still here." He said, pointing down the hallway.

"Thank you, Toby." Victoria said, giving the boy a warm smile.  Then, she ran down the hall as fast and as quiet as she could, when she got to the stairs, she ran down those as well.  When she got to the door, there were guards.

"Oh shit!" She mumbled, hiding behind a corner.

She had to find a way to distract the guards.  When they weren't looking she grabbed a piece of rubble, and threw it over by the corner.  It scuttled and slipped and ended where she wanted it to.

Away from her, the guards went over to investigate and she bolted towards the door, she opened it without much difficulty, but without a sound.  She ran away from Bedlam and didn't look back.  She was free of that place and she loved it.

"Thank you, Toby." She whispered to the air, and she thought she heard, _I'm going to miss you mum,_ in the wind.


	2. The Barber's Apprentice

**The Barber's Apprentice**

* * *

 

Victoria was walking at a fast pace, being sure to take the back streets and alleys to where she wanted to go.  She wanted to go back to the barbershop and give Sweeney a piece of her mind.  She wouldn't show fear, just anger.  She was pissed.

"I don't believe he would do that to a girl!  And around Johanna's age, too!  URGH!  I liked him better in the movie." Victoria growled as she stopped to rest.  She didn't want to sit too long, the sun was going down. "I will never fully understand that man." Victoria started walking again, looking worriedly down the alleys, where was it?

Victoria looked down the seventh ally she had passed since she started walking again, and what she saw caught her off guard.  She was looking straight into a small, long-forgotten window into the Meat Pie Emporium.

"Finally!" Victoria sighed, walking towards it.  She soon found out where the stairs were, and made her way up them again.

That same feeling she had before reared its ugly head again, and Victoria reached up to touch her silver locket.

Ironically it was a Sweeney Todd themed one.  Made with the same type of silver that his razors were made of.

When her hand got to where it was supposed to be, it was met with nothing.  The locket with pictures of Sweeney Todd and Nellie Lovett was gone.  Poof!

Victoria stopped and felt around in her hair, just in case it was stuck there.  Not a trace of it.

"No!  Not my locket!  It can't be gone, it can't!" Victoria cried, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.  Her bottom lip was trembling badly.  She wanted to strangle herself.  Why did she lose it?  Where did she lose it?  It was at ballet, it was with her on her way to the barbershop the first time.  Oh no.  She lost it in there?

"I did not!  No!  It's my only friend!" She whined, running her hands through her messy hair.  She took a deep breath and glared at the door, "I'm coming in whether you like it or not!" She screamed hurling herself through the door.  There was no weird mist, no cold breeze, and most importantly, no Sweeney Todd.  Victoria breathed a sigh of relief.  _Thank the Lord_ , she thought.

Victoria looked around, just as a precaution and started her search for the locket.  Her locket seemed to have a heartbeat when she wore it, so any old silver locket she found, just wouldn't do.  She had to find _her_ locket.  She tried to search quietly, but that proved to be hard when the floorboards creaked their protest like a dying animal.  All seemed peaceful upstairs to Victoria, but she had no idea what was going on downstairs.  If she did, then she would be out of there before someone could say "Hi."

* * *

 

"Who does that little brat think she is?  Coming on in 'ere while I'm takin' my nap." Nellie Lovett growled pacing like a caged tiger, but her dress not even making a sound.

Nellie Lovett wasn't even close to the same person she was when she died; she was an evil maniac who wreaked her havoc on anyone who tried to tell her anything that didn't seem fit to her beliefs.

"I don't know, Eleanor.  Obviously she has to be taught a hard lesson." Sweeney Todd answered in his usual voice.  A cold monotone, but there was slight exasperation in his voice.

This was all the woman had been harping on about for hours on end.  He was sitting at one of the booths by the window, watching Nellie pace to and fro across the floor, mumbling strings of harsh profanities under her breath.  Every once in a while the two would glitch in and out of focus, like a bad reception on a television.

There was a loud bang and a shriek from upstairs.  Both of the ghosts' heads snapped towards the ceiling.

"Well, I believe this is your chance to finally practice your torture techniques, Mrs. Lovett." Mr. Todd sneered, getting up from the booth and grabbing Mrs. Lovett's arm.

* * *

 

"Ow!  Shit!  Fuck!" Victoria mumbled clutching her head in her hands, yowling like an animal.

She had tripped over a lose floorboard and went head first into the barber chair.  She was now sprawled on it, hanging her head over the back, looking at the trap door, the blood rushing to her head, when she saw a flash of sliver.  She reached for it and almost had it, but it was just out of her reach.  She reached for it again, and this time she hoisted her torso over the back of the chair.  She reached, but she still couldn't get it.

The door opened quietly and Sweeney and Eleanor crept into the room.  There Victoria was, reaching over the back of the barber chair, obviously looking for something.

"Ow.  My boobs!" She whimpered, sliding her torso back, so her head was just hanging over the back.  She straightened her head, and sighed.

"DAMN IT!" She yelled, losing her temper, completely forgetting where she was.  Not even knowing who was watching her.

Sweeney cleared his throat, and Victoria whipped her head toward him.  Her pale face flushed a bright pink as she remembered what she had said.  She had said, quite loudly, "my boobs".

Victoria threw her head back and screamed.

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME!" She was murderous now, she could rip Sweeney's head off, stomp on it, chew on his brains and spit them back out, and then burn his whole body and dance around the pyre.  Even though he did nothing wrong, but walk in at the wrong time towing Mrs. Lovett behind him.

"You." She growled pointing her finger at him as she slid off the chair and walked towards him, "You are driving me nuts." She hissed as she stood in front of him.  Mrs. Lovett snarled like a beast of some sort. "Oh.  Poor wittle Mrs. Wovett is mad at me for being mad at her boyfwiend." Victoria said in a mock baby voice.

"That's it, you little bitch!" Nellie screeched hurling herself at Victoria, whose eyes widened with sudden fear.  Mrs. Lovett tackled Victoria to the ground, and started choking her while banging her head on the floor.

"Let. Go. Of. Me!" Victoria choked out, trying to claw at Eleanor's hands, but to no avail, since she just went right through her, "I'm sorry.  Alright?  I'm sorry." Mrs. Lovett didn't think that was enough, but Sweeney did.

Sweeney grabbed the back of Mrs. Lovett's black dress, and pulled her off Victoria, who gasped for air, and coughed.

"How come you can touch me, but I can't touch you?" She asked in a breathless voice, scuttling away from Mrs. Lovett, who still looked evil, "And since when have you been the saving lives and forgiving type?" She asked Sweeney, who just smirked.

"I'm not the saving lives and forgiving type.  I just have a little favor to ask of you." Mr. Todd said in a bleak sounding monotone, not looking at Victoria, just staring out the window.

"Wot?" Mrs. Lovett asked, turning around and looking at Sweeney, who was still holding her dress.  He looked at Mrs. Lovett, and her lips pulled themselves into an "o" shape, then she smiled a very evil smile.

"We will give you two choices.  Either you find what you're looking for and get out.  Never come back-" Sweeney started, but he was cut off by Nellie.

"Which we don't want you to do." Sweeney glared at her, but she just stuck out her tongue.

"Or you can stay here and start up our business again.  If you deny this option and go with the other one, I will kill you before you can get to the door.  So what will it be?  Victoria." Sweeney continued as if Nellie hadn't even said anything.

"And if I chose neither of the options?" Victoria asked, shivering since it was getting deathly cold inside the small room.

"You will die." Mrs. Lovett stated in a dark voice.  Victoria sighed and got up from the ground by the barber chair.

"I suppose I'm only left with one choice, then." Victoria sighed, shoving her hands into her pockets, "I'll start up the business again.  On one occasion." Victoria smirked, taking a step closer to the two demons.

"What occasion?" They both asked at the same time.  Victoria couldn't help but laugh at this.  She had a tinkling little baby laugh when she found something truly amusing.

"The occasion is that I only have to do one job.  You guys get to choose the two I have to choose between." Victoria said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"You help Mr. T or you help me." Mrs. Lovett said, shrugging, "But, you still have to serve the pies."

"I figured that much.  I would have to kill people with you." She pointed at Sweeney, "But what do I do with you?" She asked, turning to Nellie.

"You gut them, chop their limbs off, throw the parts of them you don't need into the furnace, and what you have left, stuff into the pies."

"Yeah, I can't do that.  The less gory the better." Victoria said as she grimaced.  She turned to Sweeney, who was staring out the window again, "I guess I'm your apprentice, then." Victoria sighed.  Sweeney let Mrs. Lovett go and she patted his shoulder before she left to go downstairs, leaving Victoria alone with the demon barber.

"So…  Um, are you going to teach me how to shave and cut people's hair, or what?" Victoria grumbled, but it came out a little harsher than she intended.

Before she knew what hit her, she was on the monster chair with Sweeney's face inches away from hers.  She could feel a coldness emanating from his body, and he was so close that she could smell his skin.  It smelled like some Italian cologne and blood.

"If you're going to be my apprentice you have to watch that smart mouth of yours, or you're going to get hurt." He snarled, he looked utterly mad.  Victoria nodded one jerky bob, and he straightened up and walking to his perch by the window, sharpening his razor.  All Victoria could hear was her heartbeat and the _zing, zing_ of the razor.

Victoria slowly got up from the chair and went around to the back of the chair, wanting to get her locket and get out.  She reached out to get it, and she finally got hold of it.

"Yes!" She whispered as quietly as she could.  She pulled, hoping it would just come out, but the she saw it was stuck in the gears underneath the chair.

"Aw!  Come on!" She whined, pulling slightly harder.  It didn't work, at all.

"Mr. Todd?" She got a grunt in response, "Could you help me get my locket out from under here, please?" Victoria asked, trying to not sound frustrated.  Sweeney turned around and saw Victoria behind the barber chair, holding onto a silver chain for dear life.

"How'd you get it stuck under there?" He asked, sort of confused, one eye-brow raised.  Victoria shrugged.

"It must have fallen off last time I was here.  When you slit my fingers." She said, holding up her cut fingers.  She hadn't realized this, but they stung, "Ouch." She mumbled, rubbing her fingers.

Sweeney handed her a razor, and she took it hesitantly.

"Cut the chain and get it out that way." He said in a "duh" tone of voice.  Victoria gasped and shook her head.

"No!  She's my only friend.  I can't do that!" She cried, running up to Sweeney and shoving the razor back into his hands.

"It's only a locket.  You can deal without it." He snarled, shoving the razor back into her hands.

"Can you _deal_ without your razors?" Victoria asked harshly, he didn't do anything but stare at her.  She had to admit, his eyes were entrancing, "No.  You can't.  Think of my locket as my version of your razors.  I can't bear to be without it.  I almost had a panic attack when I found out I didn't.  Please don't make me kill my best friend." Victoria said in a somewhat pleading voice.  Sweeney's features weren't as harsh, they were softer, more…understanding.  He nodded and Victoria softly handed his razor back to him.

"And how ironic is it that both of our best friends are sliver?" Victoria murmured before she went back to the chair to try to figure out how to get her friend.

Sweeney got an idea.  A mad idea, but it might work.

"Victoria, move.  Off the door.  I have an idea." He barked, almost completely back to his old self.  So much for that little bit of Benjamin Barker.

"What's your idea?" Victoria asked, going to the side of the chair, the side closest to him.

"If your locket fell off when you fell through the door, then maybe if we open the door it will come lose and you'll be able to get it." He said, talking so low and so fast that Victoria could hardly understand.

"Okay.  Let's try it." She said as she sat by the edge of the door, on the left side.  Sweeney stamped on the lever, the door opened, and Victoria reached through the gears to the locket.  She got hold of the chain and pulled.  It came out with no problem.

"Yay!  I've got it!  Yay!" She yelled happily, running over to Sweeney, "You, sir, are very smart." She said as she giggled.  She slipped the necklace over her matted curls and it was nestled right in her cleavage, "Thank you.  My best friend is very grateful to be back in her rightful place." Victoria swore she saw a ghost of a smile cross his lips.  She looked out the window and saw how dark it was outside.

"Oh fuck!  My parents are going to kill me for being out this late!" Victoria stammered, trying to straighten her hair into looking somewhat presentable, "I have to go." She whined, starting for the door, "Tell Mrs. Lovett I left."

"I don't think she really cares." Sweeney chuckled, "Bye Victoria."

"Call me Tori." She laughed, as she closed the door.

She took one last glance at Sweeney Todd, his profile against the full moon.  The white streak in his raven black hair, and those razors before she left down the stairs.

She made her way towards home, when a thought crossed her mind.

_They think I'm in Bedlam._

Well, this was going to be very…scary.

She arrived at her doorstep and knocked.  She had no fucking idea what the hell was going to happen, but she could tell it wouldn't be good.


	3. Ruined

**Ruined**

* * *

 

When Victoria got to her parent's door, she was shaking like a leaf.  She could barely reach her hand up to knock on the door, and when she did it was so quiet she could barely hear it.  Then she got fed up with her cowardice and banged on the door ferociously.  Then, a light turned on and Victoria heard footsteps coming towards the door.  Two seconds later, a nightgown clad Gloria opened the door, and without a word Victoria barreled straight through the doorway, pushing her mother out of the way.

"Took you long enough, Gloria." She snarled, plopping herself down on the couch in the living room.  Gloria merely stared at her daughter with surprise and fear in her eyes, then she yelled.

"Chris!  Come here right now!" Then, Gloria went over to Victoria, who was glaring at the hearth, "Why did you come here, Victoria?  How did you even get out of Bedlam?"

"Toby helped." Victoria murmured, not even glancing at her mother.  Then Chris came barreling down the stairs, holding a baseball bat.

"What happened?  What's wrong?  Wait..." He put down the bat, and went around to Victoria's front. "Victoria?" She looked up at him, and hissed.

"Look at what you did to me, Chris.  You are the one that took away all the things that I've ever loved.  You are my Judge Turpin.  I hate you." Then, she got up from the couch, and glared daggers at her father.  Then she brought her hand back and smacked him across the face with inhuman strength, causing blood to gush from his nose, "And you, my dear Gloria, you are my Beadle, because you let him do this to me."

"We didn't do this to you, honey.  You did this to yourself." Gloria whispered fearfully, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she went to Chris's aid.  Victoria was beyond herself with rage now.

"BULLSHIT!" She shrieked, her eyes murderous, "HE did this to me!  HE took away my life!" Tears were threatening to fall down Victoria's cheeks now.

 _Why can't they see it?  WHY?_   She thought.

Gloria and Chris were staring wide eyed and fearful at their daughter.  She was just a shell of her old self, nothing like the little angel they had raised.

"Please Viki...calm down." Chris cautioned, his voice shaking.  He held out his hand, like a peace offering.  Victoria's expression softened.

"You know what?  I don't care anymore.  I don't give a flying fuck anymore!  I'm NOT going to do what YOU tell me to do!" She growled, advancing on Chris until she face inches away, "I'm leaving.  I'm packing my stuff and leaving.  You won't see me again, either of you.  That is, until I rip your throats out." She smirked sadistically, then abruptly turned on her heel and stomped up the stairs.

She went into her bedroom, which was decorated quite oddly.  All ballet on one side, and all Sweeney Todd on the other.

She stopped in the doorway for a second, then walked to her bed, bent down, and ripped her black and red suitcase from underneath her bed.  She went to her closet and wrenched open the doors, then she started grabbing random clothes, not caring if they matched or not, and stuffed them into her suitcase.  She went to her drawers, and packed as many undergarments as she thought she'd need.  She took her extra pair of Pointe shoes off her dresser packed them in the suitcase softly and carefully.

She next went into the bathroom down the hall and grabbed her Proactiv face-wash, toothbrush, and Colgate toothpaste.  She dropped them on top of the heaping pile of clothes, and went to close the suitcase, when she remember two things.

A) Her cell phone.

B) The 2007 Sweeney Todd movie.

And managed to cram them in there too.  Victoria came running down the stairs, taking them two at a time, the bulging suitcase unceremoniously bumping down the stairs behind her.

Then, without a look at either of her parents, she pulled open the door, and walked into the street.  She knew exactly where she was going to go, especially since she just left there.

"Sweeney Todd, here I come." She said to the thin night air, her breath coming out in a soft, white puff.

* * *

Mrs. Lovett was downstairs in her shop, glaring out of the window when she saw Victoria.

"There's something different about that girl now...Mr. T!  Get your mopey arse down 'ere!" She yelled in her cockney accent, drumming her fingers on the dusty table.  Then, Sweeney appeared out of thin air next to her.

"Wot is it now?  Does a stray dog dare walk past?" He grumbled sarcastically, rolling his eyes.  But, his sarcasm disappeared as soon as he saw what, or rather _who_ , was coming towards the shop.  Nellie smirked.

"Something tells me, I'm going to like this Victoria better." Then, Victoria banged open the door, and pushed her suitcase into the decrepit building.

It rolled across the floor and slammed into the counter.

She was mumbling something about "stupid God Damn parents" as she trudged through the door.  She looked up at her employers, her eyes empty and dark.

"I'm staying here, whether you like it or not." She growled, slamming the door shut behind her.  She then walked over to the booth and sat down next to Nellie.

"Wot happened, might I ask?" Nellie whispered, tilting her head sideways, studying the new Victoria.  Victoria's demeanor changed from empty, to scary in no time at all.

"Why do you need to fucking know?" She yelled, her face getting really close to Mrs. Lovett's.  Sweeney grabbed the girl by the shoulders and yanked her away from the baker, who was wide-eyed, and trembling, "Yeah...now you know how I felt when you attacked me."

"Alrigh' then." Nellie mumbled, looking away from the angry fourteen year old, "Sorry for upsettin' ya." Victoria rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Yeah right." She then, abruptly got up from her seat, and grabbed her suitcase, "I'm going to bed.  I have a long day of slitting throats ahead of me." She went to the little parlor, which she had already claimed as her room, and shut the door.

The pair of ghosts heard her sobbing all night long.

* * *


End file.
